Friday, 26 October 2012

Siren - Here Today

Single review by KevW

At just 21 years old, Stefan Evan Niedermeyer is a well travelled man and must surely have been influenced by many cultures. He's half Australian, half German, was raised in Singapore and is currently living in London where he's already building a reputation as a prodigious talent. The multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter has worked with The Shoes and Alex Metric before launching his solo project Siren earlier this year. His impressive CV hasn't gone unnoticed and has led to him working with acclaimed producers and mixers Ash Workman (Metronomy) and Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Florence & The Machine, Anna Calvi, Arctic Monkeys), so his own talent combined with some experienced studio hands should result in some accomplished sounds.

Following a debut double A-side earlier this year, he's set to release the follow-up on November 12th. 'Here Today' does indeed sound like the work of a team that know what they're doing, but crucially it's not a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. This is a well produced and carefully considered track, there's no scruffy lo-fi chic on display, they're aiming for music that sounds masterfully recorded without airbrushing away any of its soul. The best description may be classy pop with an alternative edge; it's not commercial enough for the ringtone generation and is too clean for the indie hipsters. Which is essentially saying that this is a very good track, but we're not sure who the potential audience will be. With any luck there will be plenty of takers though, because 'Here Today' is a song that deserves to be heard.